CHRISTIANITY  AND  THE  BRITONS 


AUCHINCLOSS 


BR 
744 
.A8 
1907 


^.  o.  \4- 


<J 


PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


\ 


BR    744    .A8    1907 
Auchincloss,    w.    s.    1842- 

Christianity  and   the  Britons 


Ul     I  lUlt 


APR    3   1? 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  THE  BRITONS 


/ 


BY 


W.  S.  AUCHINCLOSS,  C.E. 

AUTHOR    OF    THE    "BOOK    OF    DANIEL    UNLOCKED,"   "bIBLE    CHRONOLOGY, 

"to    CANAAN    IN  ONE  YEAR,"   "SAINT  PETER  THE   APOSTLE  OF  ASIA,'' 

"how  TO  HEAD  JOSEPnUS,"   ETC. 


NEW  YORK 
1907 


Copyright  1907 

BY 

W.  S.  AUCHINCLOSS 


UORNAN,   PRINTER 
PniL.\DELPHIA 


PEEFACE. 


Many  persons  entertain  vague  notions  regarding  the  intro- 
duction of  Christianity  among  the  Britons.  Some  imagine 
that  the  British  Isles  were  visited  by  one  of  the  Apostles  of  our 
Lord.  Others,  that  missionaries  went  from  Gaul.  While  not 
a  few  look  upon  St.  Augustine  as  the  great  missionary  to  the 
Britons,  and  suppose  that  little  was  done  for  their  conversion 
before  he  landed  on  their  shores.  On  the  contrary,  as  we 
propose  to  shoAv,  Christianity  had  a  foothold  in  Britain  some 
400  years  before  St.  Augustine's  day  and  continued  to  hold 
its  ground  imder  the  same  auspices — The  Roman  Catholic 
Church — for  more  than  900  years  after  his  arrival. 

In  order  to  give  the  historic  facts  their  true  setting,  we  have 

hastily  sketched  the  progress  of  the  Christian  Churches  from 

the  end  of  the  first  century  to  the  beginning  of  the  twentieth. 

From  the  time  when  Revelation  ceased  and  the  Bible  became 

a  completed  book,  to  the  time  when  it  speaks  in  456  tongues  to 

the  nations  of  the  world  in  accents  that  proclaim  its  Divine 

origin. 

W.  S.  A. 


(3) 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  THE  BRITONS. 


The  contrast  between  the  two  dispensations  of  the  Bible  is 
very  marked.  The  old  discipline  was  minute  and  exact  in  every 
detail  and  all  was  modeled  after  the  pattern  shown  to  Moses 
in  the  Mount.  While  in  the  case  of  the  new  order,  the  largest 
measure  of  freedom  was  granted  to  the  worshipper,  stress  alone 
being  laid  on  the  spiritual  character  of  the  exercise,  which  of 
necessity  must  rest  on  a  bed-rock  of  truth. 

In  obedience  to  the  command  of  the  Master,  the  disciples 
entered  upon  their  great  work  of  teaching  the  nations  to  observe 
all  things  that  He  had  commanded  them.  Wherever  they  went, 
they  gathered  together  groups  of  converts,  who  for  the  most 
part  made  use  of  private  houses  as  places  of  worship.  As  their 
numbers  increased,  they  erected  special  buildings  or  churches 
and  every  effort  was  made  to  settle  the  work  of  teaching  on  a 
surer  basis  than  was  possible  at  the  beginning.  Before  the  first 
century  ended,  there  were  churches  in  Judea,  in  Samaria,  in 
Jerusalem,  Antioch,  Ephesus,  Smyrna,  Pergamus.  Thyatira, 
Sardis,  Philadelphia,  Laodicea,  Philippi,  Corinth,  Thessalonica 
Cilicia,  Galatia,  Cappadocia,  Bithynia,  Babylon,  Illyricum, 
Alexandria,  Rome  and  other  places  too  numerous  to  mention. 
These  churches,  in  respect  to  discipline,  gave  evidence  of  the 
freedom  that  was  granted  by  the  Master,  outlined  in  the  book 
of  The  Acts,  and  contended  for  by  the  Apostle  Paul.  No 
sooner  had  the  work  of  teaching  reached  this  stage  of  maturity 
than  a  final  Revelation  was  made  to  the  Apostle  John  regarding 
seven  of  the  above-named  cities,  which  ended  with  these  words: 

"HE    THAT    HATH    AN     EAR    LET    HIM    HEAR    WHAT    THE 
SPIRIT  SAITH  UNTO  THE  CHURCHES." 

(5) 


t)  CnRISTIAXITY    AXD    TUE    BRITON'S 

And  then,  as  if  to  make  sure  that  none  were  overlooked,  the 
New  Testament  closed  with  these  words: 

'•I,    JESUS    HAVE    SENT    MINE    AXGEL    TO    TESTIFY    UNTO 
YOU   THESE   THINGS    IN    THE   CHURCHES." 

This  testimony,  of  course,  supplements  the  other  books  of  the 
New  Testament  because  every  one  of  them  was  written  before 
the  angel  arrived.  The  discipline  or  polity  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment therefore  stands  approved,  with  no  further  revelation  from 
that  day  to  the  present  hour. 

Three  things  are  very  significant,  in  this  last  message  from 
the  unseen  world.  1st.  that  each  church  would  be  held  to  a 
personal  responsibility.  2d.  that  nothing  was  said  about  a 
merger  of  the  Churches  under  a  sinole  control;  the  whole  stress 
being  laid  on  the  spirituality  of  the  worshippers  and  not  on  the 
character  of  such  ritual  or  discipline  as  they  had  found  best 
suited  to  their  individual  or  national  wants.  Lastly:  the  mes- 
sage was  to  the  individual  Churches;  not  to  "The  Church," 
not  to  "The  Elders,"  not  to  "The  Bishops,"  but  to 
"The  Churches"  themselves. 

Here,  then,  are  the  final  directions,  and  al)out  these  there 
need  be  no  discussion.  Soon  after  the  receipt  of  these  directions 
the  first  century  of  the  Christian  Era  came  to  its  close. 


The  second  centuiy  opened  with  a  dark  cloud  on  the  hori- 
zon,— a  lurking  ambition  in  favor  of  a  central-power.  This 
idea  was  first  broached  in  a  general  way  by  St.  Ignatius  about 
A.D.  110. 

During  the  next  thirty  years.  Christian  thought  followed  the 
new  trend  and  was  ready  for  moulding  into  a  definite  form  by 
A.T).  140,  at  which  time  the  Liber  Pontificalis  assures  us  that: 

"Hyginus  arranged  the  Clergy  and  distributed  the  Gradations." 

The  master-stroke  howevei-  was  yet  to  be  given,  a  head  must 
be  appointed  for  the  Clergy.  ^  This  was  carefully  considered 


CHRISTIANITY   AND   THE    BRITONS  7 

during  the  next  thirty  years  and  at  length  in  a.d.  170  the  Apostle 
Peter  was  declared  to  have  been  the  first  Pope  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  It  seems  a  pity  that  this  discovery  was  not 
made  while  the  great  Apostle  was  still  alive  and  while  he  was 
busily  engaged  in  the  far  East,  building  up  the  churches  of 
Babylon,  Pontus,  Galatia,  Cappadocia,  Asia  and  Bithynia,  for 
then  Silas  and  Mark  were  with  him  and  he  could  have  sent 
special  salutations  to  the  church  it  was  claimed  he  had  estab- 
lished in  Rome.  But  unfortunately  the  discovery  was  more 
than  a  century  behind  time  and  no  evidence  now  exists  that 
the  great  Apostle  ever  placed  foot  inside  the  walls  of  Rome. 
(See  St.  Peter  the  Apostle  of  Asia). 

The  writings  of  Celsus  prove  that  the  period,  having  a.d.  160 
as  its  centre,  was  a  time  of  great  unrest.     He  declares  that: 

"At  first,  when  there  were  but  few  of  them,  all  agreed;  but  now  they 
have  become  numerous  they  separate  from  one  another;  every  man  wishes 
to  found  a  new  sect,  and  now  their  agreement  is  only  in  name." 

What  more  potent  name  could  have  been  selected  from 
among  the  twelve  apostles  than  that  of  the  Apostle  Peter  ?  Our 
Lord  had  given  him,  according  to  the  Roman  view,  all  authority 
both  on  earth  and  in  heaven.  Their  choice  therefore  was  a 
bold  stroke  executed  at  an  opportune  moment  and  destined  to 
exert  a  far-reaching  influence.  After  this,  did  storms  of  heresy 
arise? — The  waves  were  impotent  as  they  beat  upon  "the  Rock" 
on  which  "The  Church"  was  founded.  Were  there  doubts 
in  any  minds,  as  to  doctrine  or  ritual  ? — St.  Peter's  example  or 
dictum  allayed  them  at  once  and  the  threat  of  a  possible  turn 
of  the  Keys  brought  the  most  refractory  into  submission. 

The  Venerable  Baeda — father  of  Ecclesiastical  histon,'  in 
Britain — when  writing  about  730,  tells  us  of  a  noted  confer- 
ence held  in  a.d.  664,  over  which  king  Osw^  presided,  where 
the  disputants  were  Wilfrid  on  the  part  of  Rome  and  Colman 
on  behalf  of  the  Picts.  The  king  was  at  last  won  over  to  the 
Roman  side  and  closed  the  discussion  with  these  words: 


8  CHRISTIANITY    AND   THE    BRITONS 

"And  I  also  say  unto  you  that  he  (St.  Peter)  is  the  door-keeper,  whom 
I  will  not  contradict,  but  will,  as  far  as  I  know  and  am  able,  in  all  things 
oliey  his  decrees,  lest  when  I  come  to  the  gates  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 
there  should  be  none  to  open  them,  he  being  my  adversary  who  is  proved 
(by  you)  to  have  the  Keys." 

The  credit  for  this  shrewd  selection  belongs  to  the  Latins  and 
not  to  the  Greeks.  The  year  170  therefore  marks  a  transition 
period  when  the  Latins,  or  ruling  class  at  Rome,  made  their 
influence  felt  and  came  to  the  front  in  the  Christian  circles  of 
that  city.  They  then  displaced  the  Greeks,  grafted  on  their  own 
ideas  and  finally  made  Latin  the  language  of  the  Church.  During 
the  first  century  Latin  was  the  language  of  the  Roman  Senate 
and  diplomacy,  but  Greek  was  the  language  of  commerce. 
Both  Latin  and  Greek  were  taught  in  the  public  schools  of 
Rome  and  the  teachers  were  paid  out  of  the  public  treasur}". 
The  Septuagint,  or  Greek  version  of  the  Old  Testament,  was 
read  in  the  synagogues  every  Sabbath  day,  and  the  books  of 
the  New  Testament,  written  in  Greek,  were  read  in  the  Christian 
assemblies  every  Lord's  day.  The  Apostles  Paul  and  John  spent 
many  years  of  their  lives  in  preaching  the  Gospel  to  Greek 
communities,  and  their  converts  became  the  chosen  leaders  of 
the  Roman  churches.  Examine  the  list  of  names  of  those  who 
Presided  in  the  Church  of  Rome,  beginning  with  Linus  and 
ending  with  Eleutherus  and  you  will  find,  that  with  hardly  an 
exception  all  were  of  Greek  origin.  Then  came  Victor — the 
Latin  in  a.d.  189 — armed  with  a  claim  to  pre-eminence, 
whereupon  the  Greek  influence  gradually  withered  and  finally 
disappeared,  being  replaced  wholly  by  the  Latin. 

The  declaration  made  in  a.d.  170,  that  St.  Peter  was  the  first 
Pope  of  Rome,  laid  the  foundation  for  a  host  of  claims-to-con- 
trol,  that  have  been  advanced  from  that  day  to  the  present. 
Claims  that  certain  men  have  the  right  to  rule,  because  they 
have  been  endowed  with  power  from  on  high,  by  laying  on 
the  hands  of  others  who  preceded  them,  back  to  a  like  gift 
conferred  by  the  Apostles.     This  legacy  of  the  Second  Century 


CHRISTIANITY    AND   THE    BRITOXS  9 

reached  full  fruition  in  the  year  a.d.  1S70  when  Church  Councils 
became  altogether  unnecessary,  because  the  Pope  was  declared 
to  be  infallible  and  to  liim  was  given  "full  and  supreme  power 
of  jurisdiction  over  the  Universal  Church,  not  only  in  things 
which  belong  to  faith  and  morals,  but  also  in  those  which  relate 
to  the  discipline  and  government  of  the  Church  spread  through- 
out the  World."  As  to  his  temporal  power,  the  coronation 
service  left  no  room  for  doubt  by  the  use  of  the  following  words : 
"Take  thou  the  tiara,  -with  the  triple  crown,  and  know  that 
thou  art  the  father  of  princes  and  of  kings  and  art  the  governor 
of  the  World."  Thus  was  the  famous  doctrine  of  papal  in- 
fallibility made  to  cover  the  whole  ground.  This  climax  was 
only  reached  after  1700  years  of  conflict  and  after  more  than 
a  score  of  Oecumenical  Councils  had  rendered  their  weighty 
decisions.  In  fact  the  process  of  moulding  a  central-power  was 
attended  with  great  difficulties,  its  advance,  according  to  St. 
Jerome,  having  been  made  on  the  "  by-httle-and-little"  principle. 
As  we  direct  our  vision  toward  the  centuries  durin":  which 
this  moulding  process  has  been  in  operation,  we  are  too  apt  to 
use  our  mental  telescope  with  all  the  tubes  pushed  in,  so  that 
our  landscape  has  no  more  perspective  than  a  Chinese  picture 
where  everv^thing  stands  in  the  immediate  foreground.  We 
must  first  pull  out  the  tubes  to  the  right  focus  and  get  the  cen- 
turies in  their  true  perspective  before  we  can  see  things  as  they 
really  happened.  As  an  illustration,  take  what  is  universally 
known  as  the  Apostles  Creed.  Surely,  any  document  so  named 
ought  to  date  from  the  first  century.  But  not  until  a.d.  336  do 
we  find  any  trace  of  it  in  literature.  In  that  year  Marcellus  pre- 
sented a  creed  to  Pope  Julius,  which  approached  it  in  form  but 
not  in  fullness  of  statement.  The  perfected  creed  did  not 
appear  until  about  a.d.  750,  when  the  Pope  received  it  from 
Pirminius, — already  sawed  and  split  into  twelve  sections, — 
with  the  name  of  an  Apostle  under  each  section.  Hence  the 
title  "Apostles  Creed."  During  the  process  of  expansion  the 
words  "Holy  Church"  grew  to  be  "Holy  Catholic  Church," 
which  reading  has  been  retained  to  the  present  day. 


10  CHRISTIANITY    AND   THE    BRITONS 

In  like  manner  the  Nicene  Creed  began  to  take  shape  in  a.d. 
325,  was  doubled  in  size  in  the  year  3S1  and  finally  received  the 
"filioque  clause"  at  the  Council  of  Toledo  in  a.d.  589. 

The  celebration  of  Easter  affords  another  illustration  of  this 
slow  process  of  growth.  The  word  Easter  does  not  appear  in 
the  R.  V.  of  the  Bible,  we  read  only  of  what  Herod  intended  to 
do  after  the  Passover,  and  St.  Paul  said  he  "must  by  all  means 
keep  this  feast."  The  everlasting  contention  over  this  question, 
that  took  place  in  the  early  church  is  proof  positive  that  the 
Apostles  did  not  institute  the  feast,  for  had  they  done  so  they 
would  have  fixed  a  day  on  which  it  should  be  celebrated.  The 
subject  was  first  agitated  in  the  second  century  and  the  con- 
tention is  still  going  on  in  the  twentieth  century. 

The  Council  of  Nicaea  decided  three  points: 

1.  Easter  day  should  always  fall  on  a  Sunday. 

2.  It  should  never  be  celebrated  on  the  same  day  as  the  Passover. 

3.  The  Sunday  must  fall  after  the  Vernal  Equinox. 

Yet  this  did  not  bring  uniformity,  for  Rome  made  its  calculations 
with  an  S4-year  cycle  and  Alexandria  with  one  of  19  years,  they 
differed  also  as  to  the  date  of  the  Equinox.  The  Gregorian 
method  of  calculation  introduced  in  the  sixteenth  century,  which 
still  lacks  the  endorsement  of  the  Greek  Church,  conflicts  at 
times  with  the  second  point  of  the  Council  of  Xicaea  by  bringing 
Easter  and  the  Passover  on  one  and  the  same  day. 
For  example : 

In  1S25  Easter  and  the  Passover    fell    on  April     3d. 

"  1903       "  "      "           "             "      "       "         12th. 

"  1923       "  "      "           "          will  fall   on  April    1st. 

"  1927       "  "      "          "            "      "      "        "      17th. 

"  19S1       "  "      "          "            "      "      "        "      19th. 

The  present  practise,  therefore,  clashes  with  a  ])rimitive  custom 
and  does  that  which  was  positively  forbidden  by  the  Council  of 
Nicaea. 

Still  more  curious  is  the  extraordinarv  growth  of  the  accom- 


CHRISTIANITY    AXD   THE    BRITONS  11 

panying  fast,  which  from  ahttle  beginning  of  40  HOURS  on  or 
about  A.D.  190,  grew  by  easy  stages,  first  to  5  days,  then  to  15 
days,  afterwards  to  30  days;  then  to  36  days — on  the  idea  of 
one- tenth  of  human  time  belonging  to  the  Lord — and  finally  to 
40  DAYS,  on  or  about  a.d.  800,  when  it  happily  stopped 
growing  and  has  remained  stationary  ever  since. 
St.  Irenaeus  writing  about  a.d.  190  said: 

"The  controversy  is  not  merely  as  regards  the  day  (Easter)  but  also  as 
regards  the  form  itself  of  the  fast  (Lent)  for  some  consider  themselves  to 
fast  one  day,  others  two  days,  others  still  more;  while  others  do  so  during 
40  hours:'  [That  is,  from  3  p.m.  Good  Friday  to  7  a.m.  Easter 
Sunday,  see  Hefele's  Church  Councils,  p.  303.] 

This  luxurious  increase— from  40  HOURS  to  40  DAYS— has 
no  parallel  in  Ecclesiastical  history,  but  shows  what  tradition 
can  do  when  she  tries  hard. 

As  regards  liturgies,  the  first  two  made  their  appearance  about 
the  year  a.d.  200,  and  are  known  respectively  as  the  Liturg}'  of 
St.  James  and  the  Liturgy  of  St.  Mark. 

As  to  Christmas  Day,  it  was  decided  in  a.d.  410  to  celebrate 
it  on  the  day  of  the  winter  solstice,  viz:  December  25th- 

These  and  other  final  decisions  we  are  prone  to  think  of  as 
having  been  reached  in  New  Testament  times,  when  in  reality 
they  are  simply  results  obtained  from  a  series  of  compromises 
among  Christians,  which  were  brought  about  after  centuries 
spent  in  trying  to  establish  over  the  Churches  in  every  land,  a 
central-power  with  absolute  control. 

We  have  said  above  that  Rome  attained  its  pre-eminence 
gradually.  The  mere  declaration  of  a.d.  170,  that  St.  Peter 
was  the  first  Pope  of  Rome,  was  not  sufficient  in  itself  to  carry 
conviction  to  the  minds  of  those  who  had  been  trained  other- 
wise. The  Greek  Church  put  forward  a  claim  to  authority 
resting  the  same  on  the  Apostle  John,  the  Armenian  Church 
on  St.  Thomas  and  the  Coptic  Church  on  St.  Mark.  Conten- 
tions however  subsided  in  a.d.  325  when  the  Church  of  the 
East  and  the  Church  of  the  West  met  by  order  of  Constantine 


12  CHRISTIANITY    AXD   THE    BRITON'S 

the  Great  at  Nicaea.  The  harmony  there  secured  lasted 
264  years,  but  was  destroyed  by  the  Council  of  Toledo  when  it 
gave  its  approval  to  the  "filioque  clause"  and  made  the  same 
a  part  of  the  Creed.  The  Greek  Church  protested  against  this 
departure  from  Catholic  faith  and  ever  since  has  declared  that 
Rome  is  no  longer  the  true  Church,  but  by  that  act  she  became 
a  SECT — a  very  favorite  term  among  Christians  even  at  the 
present  day,  as  applied  to  representatives  of  other  phases  of 
Christian  faith  and  practise.  This  is  specially  the  case  where 
they  themselves  feel  absolutely  certain  of  being  the  true  Church. 
We  have  mentioned  above,  the  Church  of  the  West  without 
specifying  its  branches.    These  were  four  in  number,  viz: 

r  The  Church  of  Gaul, 

j   The  Church  of  Spain, 

1    The  Church  of  Britain, 

l  The  Church  of  Africa. 
Our  interest  naturally  clusters  around  the  Church  of  Britain 
and  leads  us  to  inquire  when  and  how  Christianity  was  first 
introduced  in  the  British  Isles? 

About  the  year  a.d.  ISO,  or  ten  years  after  St.  Peter  was 
declared  to  be  the  first  Pope  of  Rome,  Lucius  king  of  the  Britons 
sent  to  Pope  Eleutherus  a  request  for  missionaries  to  teach 
him  the  principles  of  Christianity.  The  evidence  in  this  case 
is  unusually  strong,  the  fact  being  vouched  for  by  Baeda  in 
Historia  Ecclesiastica,  by  the  Liber  Pontificalis,  by  Nennius  and 
by  the  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle.  The  presumption  in  its  favor 
was  strengthened  also  by  Tertullian  in  a.d.  20S  who  claimed 
"the  unruly  Britons  as  subjects  of  Christ."  Again  by  Origen  in 
a.d.  239,  who  agreed  with  Tertullian. 

From  this  modest  ben-innino;,  the  steadv  growth  of  the  infant 
church  may  be  gauged  by  the  increase  in  its  number  of  bishops. 
We  have: 

A.D.  180.  Two  missionaries  sent  by  the  Pope 

A.D.  314.  Three  bishops  attended  the  Synod  of  Aries. 

A.D.  603.  Seven  bishops  attended  the  Synod  of  Gloucestershire. 


CHRISTIANITY    AND    THE    BRITONS  13 

At  first  sight  seven  may  seem  a  small  number,  but  it  should 
be  remembered  that  scarcely  had  Roman  rule  ended  in  Britain, 
than  the  Jutes,  Angelns  and  Saxons  descended  on  its  shores 
about  A.  D.  450  bringing  with  them  the  heathenism  of  Woden 
and  being  animated  by  a  fierce  hostility  toward  Christianity, 
they  struggled  for  over  a  century  to  uproot  the  faith.  In  view 
of  that  experience,  the  appointment  of  seven  bishops  in  the 
first  400  years  should  be  regarded  as  an  exceedingly  good 
record. 

Britain  was  a  Roman  colony  from  its  conquest  by  Julius 
Caesar  in  B.C.  55  to  its  abandonment  by  the  Emperor  Honorius 
in  A.D.  410,  and  although  more  than  100  beautifully  carved 
and  inscribed  altars  of  the  Roman  period  have  been  found 
by  archeologists,  not  a  single  vestige  of  Christian  art  belonging 
to  the  first  three  centuries  has  been  discovered.  In  view  of 
these  facts  it  is  evident  that  if  any  one  or  more  of  the  original 
Apostles  visited  Britain,  he  or  they  did  not  stay  long  enough 
to  do  any  good,  for  the  next  100  years  were  a  perfect  Sahara 
desert  so  far  as  Christian  records  and  monuments  are  concerned. 
Furthermore,  they  left  no  impress  on  the  Christianity  of 
later  days.  This  is  clearly  demonstrated  by  the  experience  of 
St.  Ausustine  in  a.d.  603,  also  that  of  St.  Theodore  in  673. 
Both  of  these  noted  divines — Archbishops  of  Canterbury — 
labored  earnestly  to  bring  the  worship  of  the  Church  of  the 
Britons  into  conformity  with  that  of  Rome.  To  accomplish 
this  they  insisted  on  three  radical  changes: 

1.  Easter:  Must  be  observed  on  the  day  fixed  by  the  Romans. 

2.  Baptism:  Must  be  administered  in  the  Roman  way. 

3.  Tonsure:  The  head  must  be  shaved  St.  Peter  fashion. 

N.  B. — The  St.  Peter  tonsure  was  like  a  full  moon. 

The  Simon  Magus  tonsure  was  like  a  crescent. 

^Yith   these   three  exceptions    alone,    all   other    matters  were 
declared  to  be  non-efiseniiah,  and  of  no  importance  whatever. 
The  proposed  celebration  of  Easter  on  a  given  day  would 


14  CHRISTIANITY    AND    THE    BRITONS 

avoid  awkward  occurrences  incident  to  a  double  celebration, 
like  the  following  given  in  Baeda : 

"Thus  it  is  said  to  have  happened  in  those  times  (a.d.  652)  that  Easter 
was  twice  kept  in  one  year;  and  that  when  the  King,  having  ended  the  time 
of  fasting  kept  his  Easter,  the  Queen  and  her  followers  were  still  fasting  and 
celebrating  Palm  Sunday." 

Tonsure  and  mode  of  baptism  were  simply  changes  of  livery 
and  require  no  special  comment  in  this  connection. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  differences  above  recorded  are 
exactly  the  same  as  those  of  the  unsettled  period  a.d.  ISO 
when  the  Britons  received  their  first  missionaries,  and  long 
before  Rome  attained  the  pre-eminence. 

Can  you  for  an  instant  imagine  that  the  Church  of  the 
Britons  learned  these  three  objectionable  practises  from  any 
of  the  twelve  Apostles? — and  if  so,  from  which  one  of  the 
Apostles? — Or  do  you  find  anything  in  the  New  Testament 
that  would  sustain  such  a  theory? — The  conclusion  is  irresistible 
that  not  one  of  the  Apostles  ever  landed  on  the  Bi-itish  Isles. 

It  is  perfectly  plain,  therefore,  that  the  Church  of  the  Britons 
was  directly  indebted  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  for  its 
Christian  training,  and  according  to  history  it  became,  between 
A.  D.  ISO  and  6S0,  the  object  of  special  solicitude  on  the  part  of 
five  Pontiffs,  viz: 

1.  Pope  Eleutherus, 

2.  Pope  Siricius, 
{  3.  Pope  Celestine, 

I  4.  Pope  Gregory, 
[^5.  Pope  Vitalian. 

Although  St.  Augustine  was  consecrated  First  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury  by  Pope  Gregory,  yet  the  seven  bishops  of  the 
Britons  received  their  Superior  very  coldly,  for  we  read  that 
when  he  invitetl  them  to  a  conference  he  would  not  so  much  as 
rise  to  w^elcome  them,  but  remained  seated  and  conversed  with 
them  through  an  interpreter.     The  five  Archbishops  who  sue- 


CHRISTIANITY   AND    THE    BRITONS  15 

ceeded  St.  Augustine  fared  no  better,  and  like  him  were  depen- 
dent on  interpreters  for  making  known  their  thoughts  to  the 
people. 

At  last  in  a.d.  66S  a  Greek  monk  Theodore  of  Tarsus  was 
consecrated  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  by  Pope  Vitalian.  He 
was  a  man  of  great  executive  ability  and  force  of  character, 
with  a  ready  command  of  the  English  language.  Baeda  says 
that  Theodore  was 

"the  first  Archbishop  whom  all  the  English  Church  obeyed." 

This  brings  us  to  the  point  where  the  Church  of  the  Britons 
having  ceased  to  exist,  the  "English  Church"  took  its  place  and 
continued  in  power  for  the  next  900  years,  when  it  in  turn 
was  displaced  by  the  "Church  of  England,"  under  Henry  VHI. 
Thus  w^e  see  that  no  interruption  or  break  was  made  in  the  line 
of  the  Roman  Succession  from  its  starting  point,  over  to  the 
organization  of  the  Church  of  England.  The  transition  that 
took  place  during  the  reign  of  Pope  Vitalian  was  simply  a 
case  of  absorption — the  child  returned  to  the  parental  roof. 

Without  stopping  to  inquire  as  to  the  value  of  that  Apostolic 
Succession,  which  first  saw  the  light  of  day  about  the  close  of 
the  2nd  Century,  we  shall  rapidly  turn  the  pages  of  history, 
passing  the  Norman  conquest,  the  Crusades,  the  voyages  of 
discovery  which  gave  the  American  Continent  to  the  world, 
also  the  age  of  spiritual  decline,  when  the  Holy  Bible  was 
chained  in  the  places  of  worship  and  the  future  outlook  was 
exceedingly  dark. 

Suddenly  at  this  juncture,  one  of  the  great  trutlis  of  God's 
word,  viz: 

—"THE  JUST  SHALL  LIVE  BY  FAITH"— 

dawned  upon  the  mind  of  the  German  monk  jNIartin  Luther.  He 
rose  from  doing  penance  and  was  thenceforth  a  free  man.  He 
soon  began  the  great  work  of  reform  and  others  followed  his 


16  CHRISTIANITY    AXD   THE    liKITOXS 

brilliant  example.  With  a  burning  zeal  for  the  salvation  of 
souls,  the  Reformers  unchained  the  Holy  Bible,  translated  it 
into  the  language  of  the  common  people  and  sent  it  broadcast 
throughout  the  world,  fully  realizing  that  it  was  God's  message 
to  man,  a  treasure  of  priceless  value. 

As  to  discipline  and  ritual,  the  Reformers  turned  their  faces 
toward  Apostolic  days  and  sought  to  remove  errors  that  had 
crept  in  since  the  time  when  the  disciples  first  entered  upon  their 
great  work  of  teaching  the  nations.  The  frank  confession 
made  by  St.  Irenaeus  in  a.d.  190,  throws  much  light  upon 
the  many  difficulties  encountered  by  the  Reformers.  He  said 
in  part: — 

"This  variety  our  predecessors,  some  of  them  probably  being  not  very 
accurate,  handed  down  to  posterity  as  it  had  through  Siriiplicity  or  Private 
Fancy  been  introduced  among  them." 

In  carrying  out  their  scaling  process,  the  Reformers  claimed 
for  themselves  the  same  generous  liberty  and  personal  respon- 
sibility as  characterized  the  Churches  of  the  First  Century. 
Since  all  the  Reformers  sprang  from  the  Church  of  Rome,  they 
all  had  a  common  inheritance  in  the  writings  of  the  Fathers, 
the  decrees  of  the  Councils,  the  liturgies,  the  creeds,  and  the 
formulae  of  the  past  and  were  therefore  free  to  make  use  of  them, 
or  else  to  do  with  their  own  whatever  they  deemed  best  suited 
to  promote  the  worship  of  God  "in  spirit  and  in  truth."  They 
were  equally  free  to  choose  the  Historic-Eldership  of  the  first 
century,  or  perchance  the  Historic-Episcopate  of  the  second 
century,  in  fact  any  form  of  government  which  in  their  judg- 
ment was  calculated  to  secure  the  best  discipline. 

A  few  of  them  selected  the  Yea-Yea  and  the  Nay-Nay  of  prim- 
itive days;  the  greater  portion  decided  to  follow  the  example 
plainly  set  forth  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  while  those  who 
lived  in  countries  where  church  and  state  were  allied,  as  for 
instance  Germany  and  England,  found  that  aside  from  their 
preferences  their  vested  interests  could  best  be  maintained  by 


CHRISTIANITY   AXD   THE    BRITONS  17 

using  a  liturgy,  or  clarified  form  of  the  Roman  and  Gallican 
INIissals.  In  England,  the  decision  was  voiced  by  the  king,  the 
"Supreme  Head  on  Earth  of  the  Church." 

Thus,  step  by  step,  conditions  more  or  less  characteristic  of 
the  first  century  have  been  restored,  the  Bible  once  more  is  in 
position  to  exercise  its  marvellous  influence  and  again  its  lan- 
guage declares  as  of  old: 

"WHAT  THE  SPIRIT  SAITH  UNTO  THE  CHURCHES." 

Surely,  the  voice  has  not  gone  unheeded,  for  in  all  the  Churches 
highly  talented  scholars  have  devoted  their  lives  to  the  mastery 
of  strange  languages,  and  in  some  instances  have  created  a 
written  language  for  uncivilized  races,  in  order  that  they  might 
translate  the  Bible  and  place  it  in  the  hands  of  every  human 
being  on  the  face  of  the  whole  earth.  The  outcome  of  this 
herculean  task  has  been  to  make  the  Bible  the  only  book  in  the 
world  that  has  been  translated  into  45G  languages  in  400  years. 

Over  against  this  splendid  record,  stands  that  of  the  central- 
power  church  of  the  Second  Century,  with  only  about  6  trans- 
lations to  its  credit  in  1700  years. 

Like  as  it  requires  many  ships  of  different  types  to  handle  the 
commerce  of  the  world,  so  it  requires  many  Churches  to  properly 
bring  out  the  truth  contained  in  God's  Holy  Word.  The  two 
great  Bible  Societies  of  Britain  and  America  plainly  illustrate 
what  results  can  be  achieved  when  all  the  Churches  as-ree 
to  work  together.  No  one  church  could  have  accomplished  so 
gigantic  an  undertaking.  It  required  united  action  on  the  part 
of  all  the  Churches  and  the  bringing  together  of  their  varied 
talents,  each  under  its  own  organization,  but  all  working  for  the 
common  good. 

Prior  to  the  Reformation,  the  city  of  Vienna  and  other 
noted  cities  of  Europe  were  surrounded  by  high  walls  with  closed 
sates.  Now  all  this  has  been  changed,  and  we  often  find,  in  the 
place  where  the  walls  formerly  stood,  public  gardens  of  great 
beautv.     So  too,  with  the  Churches  of   the  Twentieth  Century, 


18  CHRISTIANITY    AND   THE    BRITONS 

we  find  everywhere  that  the  walls  of  exclusiveness  have  either 
already  been  removed,  or  else  that  they  are  fast  crumbling 
away  and  flowers  of  brotherly  affection  are  flourishing  where 
the  walls  formerly  stood. 

But  best  of  all,  the  Holy  Spirit  Himself  has  placed  the  stamp 
of  approval  on  the  work  of  the  Churches  and  proven  for  the  ten 
thousandth  time  that  His  work  cannot  be  bound  by  any  human 
limitations,  or  kept  within  the  enclosure  of  any  one  Church. 

]\Iark  then,  what 

THE  HOLY  BIBLE 

has  done  for  the  world! — Prize  it  still  more  highly! — Use  it 
night  and  day,  as  the  mariner  uses  his  compass! — Above  all, 
teach  the  children  to  love  it  dearly  and  to  treasure  in  theii 
hearts  its  sacred  truths. 


JUST  PUBLISHED 

BIBLE  CHRONOLOGY 

Svo.,   6^''^  X  W .     Paper,  17  pages.     Price,  25  cents 

PREFACE. 


In  this  age  of  railroad  travel,  whoever  owns  a  chronometer 
of  such  erratic  construction  that  it  varies  anywhere  from  42 
minutes  ahead  of  time  to  63  minutes  behind  time,  would  surely 
give  it  up  as  a  hopeless  case  and  would  naturally  seek  one  upon 
v/hich  he  could  place  implicit  confidence.  The  same  want  of 
reliability  is  true  of  that  chronology,  which  for  so  long  a  time 
has  been  identified  with  the  King  James  version  of  the  Bible, 
only  its  inaccuracies  are  counted  by  years  and  not  by  minutes. 
Now  that  the  world  has  a  Revised  Version  of  the  Bible,  the 
time  has  come  for  it  to  adopt  a  Revised  Chronology  in  keeping 
vvith  the  statements  of  the  Bible.  We  herewith  submit  a  system 
the  outcome  of  a  careful  comparison  of  Scripture  with  Scripture, 
also  the  product  of  a  geometrical  plotting  of  events  to  a  mathe- 
matical scale.  [Copies  of  these  charts  will  be  found  in  the 
Boston,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Chicago,  Denver,  and  San 
Francisco  Public  Libraries,  also  in  the  library  of  the  British 
Museum.]  They  were  made  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  out 
clearly  the  mutual  relation  of  events  and  settling  all  points  of 
difference  that  could  not  accurately  be  determined  otherwise. 

W.  S.  A. 


ST.  PETER  THE  APOSTLE  OF  ASIA 

12mo.,  4'^  X  S'\     Cloth,  121  pa-es.     :,Iap. ,  Trice,  50  cents 

PREFACE. 


Born  in  Syria,  spending  his  early  manhood  in  Galilee,  his 
maturer  life  in  and  near  Jerusalem,  and  his  declining  years  in 
countries  bordering  the  Black  Sea,  the  Apostle  Peter  should  be 
known  in  history  only  by  the  title  of  Apostle  to  Asia.  Tradi- 
tion has  cast  such  a  glamour  over  his  ministry,  that  his  name 
in  our  day  is  associated  mainly  with  Rome  and  the  Romans. 
By  reason  of  this  strange  transplanting  of  facts  from  the  East 
to  the  West,  great  diversities  have  arisen  among  Christian  com- 
munities, and  the  future  will  be  a  repetition  of  the  past,  unless 
comino;  generations  are  willing  to  turn  the  search-lights  of  truth 
squarely  upon  the  important  events  that  transpired  between  the 
years  a.  d.  33  and  a.  d.  150.  Once  disclose  the  fact  that 
actually  no  foundation  exists  for  a  claim  to  preeminence,  and 
you  remove  from  among  Christians  one  of  the  most  potent  causes 
of  disagreement,  and  thus  in  large  measure  open  the  way  for 
true  fellowship. 

May  the  light,  which  comes  from  the  dawn  of  the  Christian 
era,  dispel  the  twilight  of  Tradition  and  prove  effectual  in  lead- 
ino"  many  to  recognize  a  common  Brotherhood  in  the  one  Lord 
and  Master. 

W.  S.  A. 


JUST  PUBLISHED 

Svo.,    sK   X   S'X.     Cloth,    ISO  pp.        T\vo  Chabxs,     Frick,   $1.C0,  net 


THE 


Book  of  Daniel 
UNLOCKED 

BY 

W.  S.  AUCHINCLOSS,  C.E. 


INTRODUCTION    BY 

Prof.   A.   H.   SAYCE,   LL.D.,   Queen's  College,   Oxford,   England 


Public  Opinion: 

The  entire  book  of  Daniel  is  given  in  the  text,  with  running  comment 
by  the  author,  whose  exactness  in.  unlocking  prophetic  mysteries  will 
prove  a  great  delight  to  man}^  As  a  scientist  who  has  dealt  with  "Link 
and  Valve  Motions,"  "Waters  within  the  Earth  and  Laws  of  Rainflow," 
Mr.  Auchincloss  attacks  the  mysteries  of  Daniel's  prophecies  and  plots 
them  out  as  he  would  a  railway  curve,  to  the  exact  month,  week,  and 
day;  beginning  with  the  conviction  that  the  book  of  Daniel  "is  in  very 
deed  the  word  of  God." 

Rochester  Herald: 

It  has  been  clcai-ly  shown  by  the  well-known  scholar  and  author, 
W.  S.  Auchincloss,  that  the  prophecies  of  Daniel  find  their  fulfilment, 
with  remarkable  mathematical  accuracy,  in  the  crucifixion  on  Calvary — 
the  descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  "when  the  Day  of  Pentecost  was  fully 
come" — and  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  to  the  Gentiles. 

John  R.  Whitney. 
Christian  Intelligencer: 

The  book  is  not  a  commentary  but  an  arithmetical  calctilation  of 
the  time  indicated  by  the  language  of  the  Prophet.  In  this  way  he  dis- 
covers that  the  prophecies  of  Daniel,  instead  of  reaching  out  over  a  future 
still  in  the  distance,  actually  end  with  the  beginning  of  the  history  of 
the  Christian  Church  on  the  great  Day  of  Pentecost.  His  method  is  to 
introduce  the  text  of  Daniel  in  the  ordinary  black  type  and  insert  his 
mathematical,  astronomical,  and  historical  investigations  in  the  body 
of  the  text  in  red  type,  so  that  the  two  read  as  a  connected  narrative  and 
show  how  and  when  the  prophecy  was  fulfilled.  After  this  treatment 
of  the  text  we  have  a  collection  of  Notes,  which  discuss  the  more  impor- 
tant and  intricate  points  of  the  prophecy.  Two  Charts — mathematical 
and  historical — show  how  the  items  which  prodtice  the  conclusions  to 
which  he  comes  are  reached.  The  book  is  beautifully  printed,  the  method 
of  investigation  seems  thorough,  and  the  result  (quite  in  contrast  with 
most  books  on  the  subject)  is  easily  comprehended. 


D.  VAN   NOSTRAND   COMPANY 

Publishers  and  Booksellers 
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JUST  PUBLISHED 

HOW  TO  READ  J0SEPHU8 

Svo.,  6X^^  X  9''.     Paper,  15  pages.     Price,  25  cents 

PREFACE. 


Beyond  all  question,  Josephus  is  a  hard  writer  to  follow 
and  many  often  feel  when  consultinij  his  Works  as  thoup-h 
they  were  at  sea  without  date  or  compass.  This  defect  however 
can  be  overcome  '^s  Josephus  was  no  romancer,  but  at  all 
times  the  conscientious  and  upright  historian.  He  took  a 
prominent  part  in  the  affairs  of  the  first  century,  about  which 
he  wrote  as  an  eye  witness.  As  regards  preceding  ages  he 
culled  facts  and  figures  from  the  "Sacred  Books"  of  the  Jews, 
of  which  he  was  made  the  Custodian,  also  from  a  fine  reference 
library.  He  names  fifty  authors  found  in  that  collection.  His 
great  fault  lies  in  the  fact  that  being  an  active  man  of  affairs 
he  did  not  take  the  trouble  to  properly  review  his  owm  writings, 
striking  out  conflicting  statements,  supplying  omissions,  and 
correcting  miscalculations;  he  simply  drove  ahead  and  left 
this  heritage  of  careless  composition. 

We  have  made  the  long-needed  review  and  supplied  the 
corrections.  If  the  reader  will  make  marginal  notes  of  our 
corrections  in  his  own  copy,  the  difficulties  of  Josephus  will 
fade  away  and  his  true  value  as  an  historian  will  be  appre- 
ciated by  all. 

W.  S.  A. 


JUST  PUBLISHED 

TO  CANAAN  IN  ONE  YEAR 

WITH 

MAP   OF   ROUTE 

Svo.,  6X'^  ^  9^^-     Paper,  15  pages.     Price,  25  cents 


PREFACE. 


One  is  apt  to  think  of  Israel  as  spending  40  years  on  the 
road  to  Canaan  and  lose  sight  of  the  fact,  that  39  of  those  years 
were  spent  in  camp,  while  only  one  year  was  consumed  in 
covering  their  entire  journey  of  1100  miles  between  Rameses 
and  the  river  Jordan.  The  Bible  record  is  complete  as  to 
the  route  followed,  but  the  history  of  their  journey  is  scattered 
through  half  a  dozen  different  books,  the  record  changing  back 
and  forth  from  one  placs  to  another  nearly  ICO  times.  We 
have  assembled  this  data  and  illustrated  the  route  by  an 
itinerary  map.  In  order  to  bring  out  the  names  of  places 
with  o-reater  clearness  we  have  omitted  the  mountain  ranges 
and  o-oro-es,  but  in  plotting  the  line  of  march  both  their  location 
and  the  gradients  overcome  have  been  carefully  taken  into  the 
account,  hence  the  course  shown  is  topographically  correct. 

Israel's  journey  may  be  divided  into  three  sections,  viz: — 
Rameses  to  Sinai,  thence  to  Kadesh,  and  finally  to  the  crossing 
of  the  Jordan.  They  tarried  11  months  at  Sinai  and  38  years 
at  Kadesh. 

We  find  that  in  Bible  geography  as  in  Bible  chronology,  a 

golden    thread    of    logical    sequence    binds    all    together    and 

proclaims  a  Divine  origin. 

^  W.  S.  A. 


Date  Due 

I 

'4^ 

' 

^ 

BW5023  .A89 
Christianity  and  the  Britons, 

Princeton  Theological  Semmary-Speer  Library 


1    1012  00017  5234 


